Word.ws English Dictionary

mind

UK/maɪnd/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/mɑjnd/

mind noun: the capability for rational thought.

Noun

mind (countable and uncountable, plural minds)

  1. The capability for rational thought.
    • Despite advancing age, his mind was still as sharp as ever.
    • And ſure, although it was invented to eaſe his mynde of griefe, there be a number of caveats therein to forewarne other young gentlemen to foreſtand with good government their folowing yl fortunes; […]1576, George Whetstone, “The Ortchard of Repentance: […]”, in The Rocke of Regard, […], London: […] [H. Middleton] for Robert Waley, →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] P[ayne] Collier, editor, The Rocke of...
  2. The ability to be aware of things.
    • There was no doubt in his mind that they would win.
  3. The ability to remember things.
    • My mind just went blank.
  4. The ability to focus the thoughts.
    • I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing.
  5. Somebody that embodies certain mental qualities.
    • He was one of history’s greatest minds.
    • I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, […]1956, Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”, in Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series), City Lights Books, →OCLC, page 9
  6. Thinking characteristic of particular group.
    • Who knows what really goes through the criminal mind?
  7. Judgment, opinion, or view.
    • He changed his mind after hearing the speech.
  8. Desire, inclination, or intention.
    • She had a mind to go to Paris.
    • I have half a mind to do it myself.
  9. A healthy mental state.
    • I, ______ being of sound mind and body, do hereby[…]
    • You are losing your mind.
  10. The non-material substance or set of processes in which consciousness, perception, affectivity, judgement, thinking, and will are based.
    • The nature of the mind is a major topic in philosophy.
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
    Synonyms:
    cognition, learning
  11. Continual prayer on a dead person's behalf for a period after their death.
    • a month's [or monthly] mind; a year's mind
  12. (uncountable) Attention, consideration or thought.
    • They are the “tars” who give mind to the spreading sail, and their bold courage is the pabulum which will preserve our sea-girt isle in its vernal green to furthest posterity.1849, Eliza Cook, Eliza Cook’s Journal,p.119, volume 1
    • Then he, having mind of Beelzebub, the god of flies, fled without a halt homewards; but, falling in the coo's loan, broke two ribs and a collar bone, the whilk misfortune was much blessed to his soul.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

Verb

mind (third-person singular simple present minds, present participle minding, simple past and past participle minded)

  1. To bring or recall to mind; to remember; bear or keep in mind.
    • Mind to-morrow's early meeting!1878, Robert Browning, La Saisiaz, line 70
  2. (regional) To remember.
    • The land where I shall mind you not / Is the land where all's forgot.1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XXXVII, lines 25-26
  3. (dialectal, obsolete) To remind; put one's mind on.
    • Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day: / And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it, / For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • Let me be punished, that have minded you Of what you should forget.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  4. To turn one's mind to; to observe; to notice.
    • Mind the new detour signs. If you don't mind, you'll end up running into bears in the forest.
    • Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me / For bringing wood in slowly. I'll fall flat; / Perchance he will not mind me.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
  5. To regard with attention; to treat as of consequence.
    • Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 12:16
    • It's the worst thing that can ever happen to you in all your life, and you've got to mind it—you've got to mind it. They'll come saying, 'Bear up—trust to time.' No, no; they're wrong. Mind it.1907 E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, V [Uniform ed., p. 63]
  6. (imperative) To pay attention or heed to so as to obey; hence to obey; to make sure, to take care (that).
    • Mind you don't knock that glass over.
    • Scott: […] He can see by you stropping off you don’t want to be around him, so he’s not coming after you – but at the same time, obviously yeah he is concerned about your fuckin’ happiness and well-being. So Lee says to me, Scotty, pop along and mind she’s alright.2010, Gary Owen, Love Steals Us from Loneliness, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 14–15
  7. (now rare except in phrases) To pay attention to, in the sense of occupying one's mind with, to heed.
    • You should mind your own business.
    • My lord, you nod: you do not mind the play.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
    Synonyms:
    heed
  8. To look after, to take care of, especially for a short period of time.
    • Would you mind my bag for me?
  9. To be careful about.
    • Bank Underground Station, London, is built on a curve, leaving a potentially dangerous gap between platform and carriage to trap the unwary. The loudspeaker voice instructs passengers to "Mind the gap": the boundary between train and platform.2005, Gillie Bolton, Reflective Practice: Writing And Professional Development, →ISBN, page xv
  10. (now obsolete outside dialect) To purpose, intend, plan.
    • I mind to tell him plainly what I think.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
    • […]and if ever I refused to do his bidding or loitered or took my leisure he beat me with his feet more grievously than if I had been beaten with whips. He ceased not to signal with his hand wherever he was minded to go; so I carried him about the island, like a captive slave, and he bepissed and...1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar...
  11. (Ireland, UK) Take note; used to point out an exception or caveat.
    • I'm not very healthy. I do eat fruit sometimes, mind.
  12. To dislike, to object to; to be bothered by.
    • I wouldn't mind an ice cream right now.
    • Do you mind if I smoke?

mind meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

mind in Hindi

ability for rational thought
मन man, दिल dil, ज़ेहन zehan
ability to be aware of things
मन man
ability to remember things
स्मरणशक्ति smaraṇśakti
ability to focus the thoughts
मन man

mind in Tamil

மனம், அறிவு, ஞாபக சக்தி, மனது, மனத்தின் எண்ணமும், யோசனை

mind in Marathi

ability for rational thought
मन man

mind in Urdu

ability for rational thought
عَقْل 'aql, ذِہْن zihn, ذِہَن zihan
More languagesFewer languages
mind in Bengali
মন mon, চিন্তা cinta
mind in Telugu
మనసు manasu, దిమాక్ dimāk, ధారణా శక్తి dhāraṇā śakti, జడ్జి jaḍji
mind in Malayalam
മനസ് manasŭ
mind in Kannada
ಮನ mana, ಮನಸ್ಸು manassu, ಅಂಗ aṅga
mind in Punjabi
من man, دماغ dimāġ, ਮਨ man, ਅੰਦਰਲਾ andarlā
mind in Gujarati
મન man
mind in Odia
ମନ mana, ଦିଲ୍ dil, ଛାତି chāti, କଲିଜା kalijā
mind in Sanskrit
मनस् manas, चित् cit
mind in Sinhala
මන mana, සිත sita
mind in Assamese
মন mon
mind in Nepali
मन man, चित्त citta
mind in Pashto
ذهن zehn, عقل 'áqəl
mind in Arabic
عَقْل ʕaql, ذِهْن ḏihn, خَلَد ḵalad, عقل ʕaʔl
mind in Malay
akal
mind in Persian
ذِهْن zehn, عَقْل aġl
mind in Thai
จิตใจ jìt-jai, จิต jìt, ดูแล duu-lɛɛ, ถือสา tʉ̌ʉ-sǎa
mind in Vietnamese
tinh thần, lòng, tâm trí
mind in Myanmar
စိတ် cit

Examples of mind in a sentence

  • I am of a mind to listen.
  • Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  • That's far from the promised land set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, that the railways would have a guiding mind that would be in control of the industry's finances.2022 November 16, Christian Wolmar, “Can Merriman use his rail knowledge to make a difference?”, in RAIL, number 970, page 45:
  • The mind is that part of our being which thinks and wills, remembers and reasons; we know nothing of it except from these functions.1854, Samuel Knaggs, Unsoundness of Mind Considered in Relation to the Question of Responsibility for Criminal Acts, page 19:
  • Thus they dwelled for nearly a year, and in that time Robin Hood often turned over in his mind many means of making an even score with the Sheriff.1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

All 40 example sentences with mind

Synonyms of mind

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of mind

Forms of mind

Noun
pluralminds
Verb
third-person singular presentminds
present participleminding
past participleminded
pastminded
second-person singular present (archaic)mindest
second-person singular past (archaic)mindedst
third-person singular present (archaic)mindeth

Past tense of mind: minded

Plural of mind: minds

Origin of mind

From Middle English minde, munde, imynde, imunde, ȝemynde, ȝemunde, from Old English mynd, ġemynd (“mind, memory”), from Proto-West Germanic *mundi, *gamundi, from Proto-Germanic *mundiz, *gamundiz (“memory, remembrance”), from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”) (compare also mantis, via Greek), from the root *men- (“to think”). Cognate with Old High German gimunt ("mind, memory, remembrance"; Middle High German munst (“love, benevolence, joy”)), Old Norse mynd (“image, model”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 (gamunds, “remembrance, memory, mind”). Related also to Danish minde (“memory”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish minne (“memory”), Faroese and Icelandic minni (“memory, recall, recollection”), Latin mēns (“mind, reason”), Sanskrit मनस् (mánas), Ancient Greek μένος (ménos), Albanian mënd (“mind, reason”). Related to mantra. Compare also Old English myntan (“to mean, intend, purpose, determine, resolve”). More at mint.

Words formed from mind

Phrases with mind

159 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with mind

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about mind

What does mind mean?
Mind means the capability for rational thought.
What is mind in Hindi?
Mind in Hindi is मन (man), दिल (dil), ज़ेहन (zehan). See Mind meaning in Hindi.
How do you use mind in a sentence?
I am of a mind to listen.
What part of speech is mind?
Mind can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce mind?
Mind is pronounced /maɪnd/ (UK).
What is the plural of mind?
The plural of mind is minds.

Words near mind in the dictionary

  1. Mincopie
  2. Mincopies
  3. Mincopis
  4. mincy
  5. Mincys
  6. mind
  7. mind bleach
  8. mind boggler
  9. mind bogglers
  10. mind boggling
  11. mind break

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mind (page history and authors); mind (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ಅಂಗ (Kannada) (page history and authors); دل (Punjabi) (page history and authors); କଲିଜା (Odia) (page history and authors); මන (Sinhala) (page history and authors); चित्त (Nepali) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-mind.ogg.

Cite this entry: “mind.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mind. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.